XOR cipher

In <a href="/facts/Cryptography/e94PEVau">cryptography</a>, the simple XOR cipher is a type of additive <a href="/facts/Cipher/eJnuftYe">cipher</a>, an <a href="/facts/Encryption_algorithm/16q29Fdv">encryption algorithm</a> that operates according to the principles:

A 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 0 = A,
A 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 A = 0,
A 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 B = B 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 A,
(A 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 B) 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 C = A 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 (B 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 C),
(B 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 A) 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 A = B 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 0 = B
For example where 
 
 
 
 ⊕
 
 
 {\displaystyle \oplus }
 
 denotes the <a href="/facts/Exclusive_disjunction/FHyr7hGQ">exclusive disjunction</a> (XOR) operation. This operation is sometimes called modulus 2 addition (or subtraction, which is identical). With this logic, a string of text can be encrypted by applying the bitwise XOR operator to every character using a given key. To decrypt the output, merely reapplying the XOR function with the key will remove the cipher.

XOR cipher open-in-new

XOR cipher